guinea pig
/ˈɡɪni pɪɡ/
guinea pig noun: any tailless rodent of the genus Cavia, which have short ears and superficially resemble large hamsters.
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Noun
guinea pig (plural guinea pigs)
- Any tailless rodent of the genus Cavia, which have short ears and superficially resemble large hamsters.
- A domestic guinea pig, Cavia porcellus, often kept as a pet.
- A living experimental subject.
- He became a human guinea pig and was paid by the company.
- [H]e spoke of the unwisdom of volunteering one's services as a guinea pig.1970, Larry Niven, Ringworld, page 115
- Synonyms:
- lab rat
- A professional company director, without time or real qualifications for the duties.
- A midshipman in the East India service; (by extension) a low-skilled or non-proficient seaman.
- A good seaman he is... none of your guinea-pigs.1748, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Roderick Random, page 183
- I promise you, to me it was no slight penance to be exposed during the whole voyage to the half sneering, satirical looks of the mates and guinea-pigs.1779, Macintosh, Travels, quoted in Carey, Old Days, i. 73
guinea pig meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Tagalog
guinea pig in Hindi
- rodent
- गिनी पिग ginī pig
guinea pig in Tamil
- கினிப் பன்றி
guinea pig in Telugu
- guinea pig
- సీమపందికొక్కు sīmapandikokku
guinea pig in Tagalog
- rodent
- dagang-puti
More languagesFewer languages
- guinea pig in Arabic
- خِنْزِير غِينِيَّا ḵinzīr ḡiniyyā
- guinea pig in Malay
- marmut, tikus belanda, argus, arkus
- guinea pig in Indonesian
- tikus belanda, marmut, kelinci percobaan
- guinea pig in Persian
- خوکچه هندی xukče-ye hendi
- guinea pig in Thai
- หนูตะเภา nǔu-dtà-pao, หนูทดลอง
- guinea pig in Vietnamese
- chuột lang, bọ
- guinea pig in Myanmar
- ပူး pu:
Synonyms of guinea pig
- cavy
- domestic cavy
- domestic guinea pig
- lab rat
Forms of guinea pig
| plural | guinea pigs |
|---|---|
| alternative form | guinea-pig |
| alternative form | Guinea-pig |
| alternative form | Guinea pig |
| alternative form | guineapig |
Origin of guinea pig
The origin of "guinea" in "guinea pig" is uncertain. One theory is that the animals, which are originally from South America, were brought to Europe by way of Guinea, leading people to think they had originated there. "Guinea" was also frequently used in English to refer generally to any far-off, unknown country, and so the name may simply be a colorful reference to the animal's foreignness. Others believe "guinea" may be an alteration of the word coney (“rabbit”); guinea pigs were referred to as "pig coneys" in Edward Topsell's 1607 treatise on quadrupeds. The figurative sense of "experimental subject" was first used in the early 20th century, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, which cites examples from 1913 and 1920. It arose from the once extensive usage of guinea pigs in scientific research since at least the 17th century, which had a peak in popularity in the 19th and 20th centuries, when they were part of groundbreaking germ-theory research and of orbital space flights. Compare Italian cavia, Portuguese cobaia, and the latter's loans into French cobaye, Spanish cobaya, Romanian cobai, and Turkish kobay, all of which mean both "guinea pig" and "volunteer for lab...
Words formed from guinea pig
- Abyssinian guinea pig
- act as a guinea pig
- Agouti guinea pig
- Brazilian guinea pig
- Brindle guinea pig
- common guinea pig
- Crested guinea pig
- Dalmatian guinea pig
- domesticated guinea pig
- domestic guinea pig
- Cavia porcellus
- domestic guinea pig genome
- Dutch guinea pig
- Greater guinea pig
- Cavia magna
- guinea pig breed
- guinea pig breeder
- guinea pig brush
- guinea pig cage
- guinea pig diseases
- guinea pig fancier
- guinea pig fancy
- guinea pig food
- guinea pig genetics
- guinea pig genome
- guinea piggie
- guinea piggies
- guinea piggy
- guinea pig handbook
- guinea pig husbandry
- guinea piglet
- guinea pig meat
- guinea pig model
- guinea pig night
- guinea-pig productivity
- guinea pig pup
- guinea pig sounds
- guinea pigs' teeth
- guinea pig strains
- guinea pig world
- hairless guinea pig
- Himalayan guinea pig
- human guinea pig
- Intermediate guinea pig
- Cavia intermedia
- laboratory guinea pig
- long-haired guinea pig
- long-haired rosetted guinea pig
- Montane guinea pig
- Cavia tschudii
- parti-colored guinea pig
- Peruvian guinea pig
- Rex guinea pig
- Roan guinea pig
- rough-coated guinea pig
- Satin guinea pig
- Self guinea pig
- Sheltie guinea pig
- Shiny guinea pig
- Cavia fulgida
Questions about guinea pig
- What does guinea pig mean?
- Guinea pig means any tailless rodent of the genus Cavia, which have short ears and superficially resemble large hamsters.
- What is guinea pig in Hindi?
- Guinea pig in Hindi is गिनी पिग (ginī pig). See Guinea pig meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is guinea pig?
- Guinea pig is a noun.
- How do you pronounce guinea pig?
- Guinea pig is pronounced /ˈɡɪni pɪɡ/.
- What is the plural of guinea pig?
- The plural of guinea pig is guinea pigs.
Words near guinea pig in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: guinea pig (page history and authors); guinea pig (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); సీమపందికొక్కు (Telugu) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-guinea pig.ogg.
Cite this entry: “guinea pig.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/guinea_pig. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.